A39224:186
Communion of churches, or, The divine management of gospel-churches
Communion of churches, or, The divine management of gospel-churches by the ordinance of councils constituted in order according to the Scriptures as also the way of bringing all Christian parishes to be particular Reforming Congregational Churches, humbly proposed as ... a means of uniting those two holy and eminent parties the Presbyterians and the Congregationals ... / written by John Eliot.Communion of churches, or, The divine management of gospel-churches by the ordinance of councils constituted in order according to the Scriptures as also the way of bringing all Christian parishes to be particular Reforming Congregationall Churches, humbly proposed as ... a means of uniting those two holy and eminent parties the Presbyterians and the Congregationals ... / written by John Eliot.
printed by Marmaduke Johnson, 1665
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
II. The Moderator is to call upon all the Elder• in order, to declare, with the co-attestation of their Associate •uling Elders, the state of all the Churches, touching the same five Questions. All whose Reports are distinctly to be recorded, as the present good estate, in Christ, of all those ⟨p. 28⟩Churches, to stand as a monument of Gods mercy to future ages: and to be presented upon record unto the Provincial and National Councils.
III. If all the Churches walk in an Evangelical measure of Truth, Peace and Holiness, and have no cause that laboureth among them, for want of Help •d Counsel; then the Moderator is to declare to •e praise of God, that the work of this present Session, as touching their own Churches, is finished.
IV. But if there be any difference▪ or strife, or any difficult case in any of the Churches, there opened by the Elders: The matter is first to be put, and resolved into a Question or Questions, according as the state of the case doth require: and those Questions recorded, as matter for the Council to give advice in, unto that Church from whence they came. Also it must be provided, that the party, or parties concerned in the case, or cases, be present, both at the •ating of the Questions, and discussion thereof, and at the Application thereof unto the particular case; and that he or they have competent liberty to Discuss, Argue, Answer, or wha ever is requisite, to find out and clear up the truth. The Answer to the Questions, and the Application thereof (so far as may stand with due reverence to the Church and glory of Christ) are to be recorded.